NICK Rheinberger's audience will have the blues in the best way when he performs this Saturday night.
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A singer from a young age, Nick got into the blues when he joined a band in Canberra and bought a guitar around the age of 23.
He also experiments with other genres and plays a massive range of instruments, ranging from four-string guitars right up to his latest addition, a 22-string Indian-made 'chaturangui'.
Nick often surprises people by using the traditional Indian instrument to play reggae or funk.
"I like to take instruments of a certain culture and tradition and do different things with them."
Nick recently returned from a trip abroad to India where he undertook a workshop with "the world's greatest slide guitar player, Debashish Bhattacharya."
Nick said playing the chaturangui teaches patience.
"It's made with an especially carved bone bridge that vibrates on its own, so it basically plays the strings for you - if you play them at the right pitch."
Nick describes his style as an "acoustic cabaret" and the audience at his weekend gig will experience nothing less.
"I'll play two sets. There's a stack of instruments, yarns, poems and even a new joke I learnt in Bengali."
Bengali is the traditional language used in Kolkata, where Nick stayed during his time in India.
Nick is also a fan of the ukulele, and has previously run workshops throughout the Southern Highlands and beyond sharing the ukulele with a range of people and "subverting the usual expectations."
"Ukuleles are really good for funk and reggae because you usually play those in the upper register of the guitar anyway," he said.
Nick will bring a number of his unusual guitars with him this Saturday, January 31 to his gig at the Red Room in Mittagong.
The show begins at 7pm and tickets are $25 per person (bought at door).
The Red Room cafe style menu will be available from 6pm and it will be BYO drinks.
The Red Room is at 1/118 Main Street Mittagong, near Mittagong Playhouse. For table bookings, contact Sandi on 4872 1724.